FGD: In the Blake of an Eye

An awful title, I know, but as the Calgary Flames get set to take on the St. Louis Blues tonight, they’ll do it with a new face in the lineup (6 pm, Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960). The Flames claimed forward Blake Comeau off waivers from the New York Islanders earlier today, picking up the 25 year old who scored 24 goals last season. On the results front, Calgary is hoping to snap a two game skid after losing the first pair on this four game trip.

The Comeau acquisition is a low to no risk one, even with his lack of points so far this year. Comeau hasn’t recorded a single point in 16 games this year after a career high 46 last year, so it was pretty clear a change of scenery might benefit the player. His $2.5 million cap hit expires at the end of this season when he’ll become a restricted free agent. I spoke to Blake today, and there’s no doubting he’s excited prior to what could be his first game with the Flames.

The Lineup

With the addition of Comeau to the active roster, the Flames assigned Paul Byron to the American Hockey League. The Flames needed to make an immediate roster move, and as much as names like Stajan and Kostopoulos were more popular to be assigned, they are both waiver eligible and thus would have a 24 hour clearance period. Jay Feaster said today in St. Louis they would like to make a roster move in the near future to bring Byron back up.

If Comeau plays, it’ll likely be in place of Byron directly in the lineup. You never know in a situation like this, but the feeling is not much will change in terms of lines.

Both Smith and Hannan are banged up a little, but both are expected to play. If one of them can’t go, Cory Sarich is available as a replacement in a pinch. The Flames are coming off a game where virtually everyone struggled, especially the players put in the high responsibility situations. The top four blueliners speficially fought it against Detroit, while the Jokinen trio had their worst game of the season, finishing a combined -30 in even strength scoring chances.

Miikka Kiprusoff might have let in a softie on Wednesday night, but for the most part, he was very strong against the Red Wings. He’ll get the start again tonight.

The Opponent

How things change thanks to a simple move. Since Ken Hitchcock took over for Davis Payne as Head Coach of the Blues, St. Louis has been a different team. A game below the .500 mark at the time, this deep team has lost just once in regulation in the eight games since, going 5-1-2 in that span. It’s more in line with what this team is capable of, because there are few teams deeper in the conference. The only thing lacking right now is a consistent number one goalie and a true high end player.

That said, there are a number of quality, quality players on this Blues team. Their top line is crushing possession currently, especially down the middle and on the left side. With solid depth players throughout, there isn’t an easy matchup for the most part, except if you get to the fourth line where the Flames might be able to have some sustained success, much like they did against Detroit.

The lineup could be even deeper, as David Perron remains out of the lineup with a concussion, but looks very close to returning to the active group after being cleared to play. Also out with a concussion is Andy McDonald, his second in ten months, so his return is a little more long term. B.J. Crombeen (broken shoulder) is the only other regular forward on the shelf while Kent Huskins (broken ankle) and Carlo Colaiacovo (hamstring) are on the shelf on the blueline.

Starting goalie Jaroslav Halak has really struggled so far this season, so it’ll be Brian Elliott getting the start in net. He’s put up some decent, yet unsustainable, numbers thus far with a .954 save percentage and a .946 number overall. He’s still beatable, but he’s a better option than Halak currently.

The Story

The Flames need a win, regardless, and maybe the addition of Comeau will spark things for them. They gift wrapped the game and gave it to the Red Wings on Wednesday, and the fact is, if Calgary isn’t playing smart hockey for 60 minutes, they’re not going to win very much, as they’re just not good enough. The Blues are red hot and a quality opponent, so that smart effort is a necessity tonight.

Hey, Pat. Definitely a sideways move by Feaster. Can’t help thinking this is going to be a piece of a bigger trade. Gotta get Byron back up, though. Funny, smart and effort, when talking about the Flames.

I like the lines as they are to start, Horak and Stempniak are good linemates for Comeau for a first game, we can send the lines in a bender later.

Even though both GlennX and Comeau are leftwingers, I wouldn’t mind seeing one take the right wing spot and have either Backlund or Horak center the line, I think that would be interesting to watch.

Either way, great game to watch now tonight, to bad Byron still couldn’t be in the lineup, although I’m less optimistic about this game than the Detroit game and I was pretty much banking a loss than, STL has been scary good since Hitchcock took over.

GlennX – Jokinen – Bourque(Stempniak), with Bouwmeester and Butler on the points. Comeau and GlennX could switch spots on either the one or two units, but both of them should theoreticly provide each unit with a good physical pressence, not Holmstrom like, but a pressence at the least.

Comeau is a hard case to judge. He plays on the Islanders, with other terrible ES players on a terrible ES team. It’s entirely possible he’s either part of the problem and bad himself or he’s okay and being dragged down by his surroundings.

No sense keeping Kosto around… he’s 32 yo UFA-to-be. Sure, he’s a nice 4th liner, but this team has had no trouble finding 4th liners. I’m not sure you can get anything much for him, but I’d be happy enough with a 5th. If nothing else, simply waive him – his salary along with the $1.5M the Flames are saving on Hagman would virtually cover Comeau’s addition.

Especially with the likes of a Bouma in Abbotsford we have a guy that can take Kosto’s spot rather easily. I’d even start looking at if we want to keep Jackman around for longer than this year, depending on what he wants he can be good trade bait as well.

I’m just curious what’s gonna happen when our team starts get healthy, we are at 23 players with Babchuk, Carson and Moss all on IR and Byron recently sent down. Are we gonna send Brodie back down? I haven’t looked at the underlying numbers, but just watching the Detroit game he looked better than Smith, Sarich or Babchuk has been all year. I know he doesn’t need to clear waivers, but thats Daryl Sutter thinking, even though he’s better you send him down cause you don’t have to lose someone. Sarich should be traded for whatever we can get, and if not waived, samething with Babchuk and we can run with Brodie, Carson and Smith as the 5/6 guys.

With some Real dollars tied up in the Hagman deal, I doubt ownership ditches Stajan to the minors as well, I think we unfortunately stuck with him, our best bet is Bourque and maybe Morrison/Kosto/Jackman to make some room. Theres also a bunch of other guys that are making big AHL dollars, I really doubt ownership wants to spend Stajan dollars in the minors. Maybe next season when he is making 2 million less than this season, ugh, that is just disgusting to think about, that even making 2 million less next season he’s still 1-1.5million overpaid.

Overall, i think Comeau is a reasonable gamble, especially with his contract expiring at the end of the season. If he wants a similar contract next year he is going to have to work to earn it.

Not impressed with Comeaus +/-, but it is hard to judge when I don’t know much about the quality of his ice time with the Islanders. At least Comeau and Iggy will have something in common to talk about.

Surprised to see the Flames maxing out their contracts at 50 again, We need to dump some of the low hanging fruit, quality in preferable to quantity.

Currently for a vast majority of the time, the owners are burying that money in the press box. Granted he takes up a roster spot but they’re already at 50. So whether they bury him in the press box or the minors I don’t think it matters.

As for recall, I’m not worried someone would pick him up on re-entry as I don’t think he’s a bargain at half salary either.

Just don’t know what happened to him. Even the modest game he had has completely left him.

Didn’t say I agreed. Perhaps it is a cop-out. Perhaps Iggy is simply aging. Slowing down.

I think the latter. But I also think Iggy’s on the cusp of a breakout. Yet, in a recent interview, he sort of skirted-around the issue of how he’s being used, and that he is an offencive-type player, and seemed to be trying to say he needs to be able to play his game more…

I like this move to claim Comeau. With him having family in the city it could have a real positive effect on his play and outlook on his hockey future. I have a feeling this could be something that we end up talking about more down the road. He has what it takes to be an NHL’er if played in the right spot on the roster. I can’t believe that some other team would not have taken him if we passed on our chance.

Two words… Sean Avery. Rangers picked him up for $2M each season over 3 seasons. And he is much more of a liability and WAY more useless than Stajan. Why wouldn’t Stajan get picked up on re-entry waivers?

The only problem there is us being stuck with half his salary for 3 or 4 more years.